Medical, dental, pharmaceutical, veterinary, and mortuary instruments and devices (collectively referred to herein as “articles”) that are exposed to blood or other bodily fluids require thorough cleaning and microbial deactivation (e.g., decontamination or sterilization) between each use. Liquid microbial deactivation systems (e.g., a reprocessor) are now widely used for microbial deactivation of articles that cannot withstand the high temperatures of a steam sterilization system. Liquid microbial deactivation systems typically operate by exposing the articles to a liquid deactivating fluid, such as peracetic acid or other strong oxidant.
Articles that are to be deactivated are placed directly within a deactivation chamber of a microbial deactivation system or inside a container that is inserted into the deactivation chamber. During a deactivation cycle, a liquid deactivating fluid is circulated through a fluid circulation system that includes the deactivation chamber and the container located therein. The liquid deactivating fluid can be introduced into the microbial deactivation system as a pre-formed solution that requires no further dilution or mixing. However, in many microbial deactivation systems, the liquid deactivating fluid is formed inside the microbial deactivation system by dissolving dry chemicals within a liquid. For example, a dry chemical reagent (e.g., acetylsalicylic acid) and a dry builder component (e.g., sodium perborate) are combined together with water to form a liquid deactivating fluid (e.g., peracetic acid) at a desired concentration.
In many systems, a chemical delivery container is used to store the dry chemical reagent and dry builder component. Prior art chemical delivery containers include numerous components and assembly steps, thus resulting in a complicated and time-consuming manufacturing process.
The present invention provides a multi-chamber chemical delivery container that overcomes the drawbacks of prior art chemical delivery containers and provides further advantages.